The Morning of Blood
by RaVeN MoRRiGu
Summary: *~*ChApTeR*tHrEe*~* is now up!! yeah, but its short and a main character gets killed, so don't get ma at me-- I WARNED YOU!
1. *~*ChApTeR*oNe*~*

You see something through the bushes

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Escaflowne (I wish I did, but that's something completely different.) I do own Pompeii/ the Faery of the Mist thing…

~~ = scene change

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italics = thoughts

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bold = yelling (duh)

You see something through the bushes. As it shifts, a shimmering catches your eye. It can't be the dragon; they're never this quiet. Softly, you push the leaves so you can see the creature. 

Crouching down to the creek is a being almost like a draconian; it has almost a six-foot wings span. They almost look like those of a monarch butterfly; red in place of the orange, shimmers radiating from every inch, yet on the tips, there are dagger-like points of platinum. 

She bends down to drink from the creek. Her shimmering white digets dip into the crystalline water. 

You push the branches farther away, causing one to snap, 

The creature leaps easily ten feet into the top of the tree above her and turns shades of green, you can feel her tense eyes on you; sizing you up in case of a quarrel. 

You come out of the bushes and put your arms at your sides. "I'm not going to harm you. I was just resting behind that bush when you caught my eye." You're a grown man, you shouldn't have to explain yourself to a woodland creature, not be shaking like one. 

Her eyes wander over you once more before dropping from the tree in the blink of an eye; she is standing right in front of you. 

You take a step back. Your foot steps on a root and you fall into the same bush you were just hiding in. 

Something about her is drawing you to keep your eyes on hers, locked in place. 

She pulls you out of your shrubbery so that you are face-to-face, or rather face-to-chest—the top of the head of your butterfly creature only comes up to your chest, staring up at you. She's her "normal" color now; lime green eyes inspecting your red ones. 

"It's rude to spy." Her low voice is soft, soothing. 

"Pompeii." You murmur a name unknown to you. You lean down to her, pulling her closer. You can taste her sweet breath. 

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Folken jerks upright in a cold sweat. His sheet clings to his hands as he touches his bionic arm. 

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Dilandau's hand makes a surprising "smack" on the boy's face. He holds his ground and finishes reading from the scroll. 

"Lord Folken wants to see you in the Main Entry immediately." The messenger waits for a reply.

Dilandau backhands him again. "You're disMISSED!" he barks, pacing in front of his lined men. After stopping in front of several men, Dilandau finally spits out between gritted teeth, "Go."

All file out quickly and silently. 

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"There is no need for the formality Dilandau." Folken replies to his subordinate after a bow, although he himself is ridged.

"You wanted to see me."

Folken's heavy black cloak flings back exposing his metal arm. "That day." His voice is level. "That dream." Folken's bionic fist clenches. A strand of mint green hair falls in his gazing eyes. 

"What has Lord Dornkirk said about these?" Dilandau is becoming impatient. 

"He sees no need to focus on such minute things, even though his visions have been clouded." Folken walks over to Dilandau. "I want you to find her."

Dilandau's jaw almost drops. "Find a Faery of the Mist?! My Dragon Slayers wouldn't know the first place to look! This is going to be a wild~" 

"Just do it!" Folken stops dead in front of Dilandau, his voice harsh. "Start at the Crystal Lake. You can work your strategies during the search." Folken bows in good-bye; Dilandau following suit before skulking out. 

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"Begin!"

'_What an odd-ball…not even a cutie…_' she swims up and knocks a lily pad from the water on the guy who is screaming's head. '_Score!_'

Dilandau turns red and begins yelling at his Dragon Slayers about how pranks are unacceptable.

'_This is almost too easy…_' she pops out of the lake, her thick brown fur soaked. '_Even better!_'

"I'm an otter! I'm an otter!" she yells in plain English, slamming a shellfish against a rock. 

All of the men on land stop and stare at the self-proclaimed otter.

Seeing this, she drops her lunch and stands on top of the water, flippers on her hips. "What are you lookin' at?!"

"Lunch!" on of the guys calls out.

"Who the hell you calling lunch?!" at that, the otter turned into a white skinned faery and dives into the lake.

"Kill it!" Dilandau screams and all of the Dragon Slayers dive into the water.

"Swim, swim as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" Pompeii calls down to the Slayers in the water as she pops out and flies above the trees.

The Dragon Slayers and Dilandau just stare into the sky, befuddled.

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Folken sat slumped against the same tree his faery had hidden in ten years before. He was half-asleep when Pompeii landed next to him. 

"If it isn't the Folken Fanel, prince of Fanelia." She bends down and kisses the top of Folken's head, waking him completely. 

Folken jerks upright and glares at Pompeii for an instant, until he realizes who she is. Mesmerized and amazed, Folken just sits, staring for several moments. 

__

"Cat got your tongue?" Folken hears the sentence, but sees no movement of Pompeii's lips. She smiles and cocks an eyebrow at him. "You know, it is rude to stare."

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Dilandau and his Dragon Slayers, soaking wet, go running through the woods to find Lord Folken. 

"He never said anything about a shape-shifting ability…" Dilandau growls to himself. "The stream is strait ahead." He calls back to his men. 

The group bursts through the brush just in time to see their Lord kissing the shape-shifting faery.

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"It is not safe to have something wild aboard the Vionne—who knows what type of havoc it will create!"

"General Adelfus, it is in your best interests not to advise me on this subject. You are dismissed." 

"Lord Folken—"

"**You are dismissed, General!**"

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Pompeii was roaming about the Vionne, dispersed as a mist, to sneak into rooms unnoticed. She finds two cat-women talking about Folken not long after she ventured out.

"Since when has he known this…faery-thing?"

"He knew of us before that one."

'_I think that's enough of that conversation…_' Pompeii passes out of the room into the empty hallway. '_They haven't watched him for how many years. Jealous jealous…they've had him for long enough—it's my turn._'

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Folken enters his quarters and beelines for the French windows. Out of the corner of his eye, Folken sees a shimmering. He turns to find Pompeii curled up, asleep in his chair, strands of her black hair draping her eyes. Folken sweeps the strands away gently, yet still wakes her. Pompeii's large, glassy green eyes look up at him with an unknown glitter to them before going back to sleep. 

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"The King of Cups. There is a lighter colored man in your future." Hitomi looks up at Van. "Folken."

Van stiffened. "Thank you Hitomi. I'll be ready for him."

Hitomi's eyes are still on the cards, studying them more deeply. The High Priestess in the 9th placing was worrying her. A strong magical woman also in the Van's future. Did this have to do with Folken? Or was this for Van himself? Was he going to leave her for someone with more knowledge and skill? Hitomi's head swam with questions. 

When she had snapped out of her daze, Van was gone. Merle falls over laughing at Hitomi's expression. 

"You are so weird! I could just sit and watch you all day!"

"Why you…!" Hitomi jumps up and tries to tackle Merle unsuccessfully; Merle goes running out the door and down the hall, vanishing into Van's room. 


	2. *~*ChApTeR*tWo*~*

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'_So innocent while sleeping, so conniving when awake. What did Dornkirk do to change my prince so much?_' Pompeii's hand seemed to caress Folken's face, though her flesh never touched his. She turned to back and walked to the large windows. Although she had wings, she only used them to move about long distances. 

A warm pink glow was filling the bedchamber quickly. The large orange sun was ascending to its throne in the sky. 

The soft rose color was being replaced by a deeper, darker shade of magenta—the rose and purple sky had become red. 

Folken's shifting and moans took Pompeii's attention away from the sky before she could notice the change. When at his side, the faery gently wiped the perspiration from Folken's face. 

Tossing still, and eyelids fluttering, a nightmare was apparent. After several attempts at entering Folken's mind, Pompeii kisses Folken's head and turns her attention back to the rising sun. 

The sky is now blood red, much to the horror of Pompeii. 

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Hitomi jerked awake in a cold sweat. '_The morning of blood_.' The phrase kept repeating endlessly in her mind. 

Hitomi's thoughts had her so engulfed that she doesn't even notice Van sitting in a chair, less than two feet away from her bed; she doesn't "wake up" until Van puts his hand on her shoulder. 

((I know that this is short, but I'm just trying to get stuff up so that I can kinda get over a bad case of writer's block…))


	3. *~*ChApTeR*tHrEe*~*

"Now is the time to attack

Ok, this really sucks; I am going through writer's block right now, so I am apologizing beforehand for this chapter. Many people, well, of those who actually read my crap, are not going to be happy with what happens in this chapter--all I shall say is that a [main] character dies. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. I own Pompeii and the whole Faery of the Mist thing (including EvE from one of Spazoid's stories) so no one can take them! Not like anyone would want to…. I'm shutting up now…kinda…

"Now is the time to attack." The screen blurred slightly. "You have an hour to have all units assembled and precisely on the hour I want the battle to begin." And then went black. 

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After giving the orders needed, Folken stalked back to his quarters, finding Pompeii flying around the room nervously. Her butterfly wings were beating so rapidly that there was a cool, steady breeze in the room; she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Folken enter. 

Folken cleared his throat, startling Pompeii so badly that when she spun to look at him, she let her wings stop beating and fell to the marble floor with a good THUD. 

"Well, I feel like an ass…" Pompeii shook her head. Folken looked rather dumbfounded. "Weren't expecting that, were you?" Folken just stared. "Neither was I." 

Pompeii stood up, brushed off her tan leather skirt and tank. Her matching knee-high boots made no sound as she walked across the chamber to Folken, and stood in front of him. Folken was a good foot taller than Pompeii, causing her to look up at him. 

"Why?" she asked.

Folken blinked once, not quite understanding. "Why what?"

"Why are you doing this? What is the need? Fighting your own brother over peace. Fighting for peace. What sense does that make?" her lime eyes flashed, then Pompeii sighed heavily. She began to pace back and forth in from of Folken, muttering to herself.

Suddenly, she stops just in front of him, looking into his ruby eyes. "Do what you want." Her voice was icy and her age had seeped into it. "See where it gets you."

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Cities were in flames. Men were dead. And yet the battle had only begun. Van was cutting down guymeleufs left and right. Nothing was going to stop him from winning this battle. So he thought. 

Only moments after defeating his third Dragon Slayer, the young king spots Hitomi only seventy-five yards away from him. His red eyes go wide. _No. What is she doing here? She's going to get herself…_

Before Van could finish his thought, Hitomi slumped to the ground, a pool of blood growing from her. A Crima-claw had shot right through her. 

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Pompeii stood in Folken's chambers, watching the battle below her. _This is sickening._ She thought. The faery was so disgusted with the battle that she wouldn't go with Folken to the Main Deck. Nothing she could say would change anything. _What is to come shall show just how wonderful battle is._

See? I told you it would be bad!! And please don't burn me at the stake for killing Hitomi--this is only a story--and I could have gone into detail about what she felt as she died, etc. but that would have been just plain mean. Please review this. PLEASE!!! *Gives you the big puppy-dog eyes* and if you want to give any suggestions, I shall do my best to add them (i.e. want to see more of a character or something). Thank you!

*~*LithiumFilledD0LL*~*


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